Founded in 1996, London Capital Group Holdings Plc (LCG) is among the oldest online brokers in the industry today.

This broker is headquartered in London with offices in Cyprus, China, and South Africa. Since launch, LCG has received over $1 billion in deposits and executed over $20 trillion worth of notional trade volume.

The broker is listed in London Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol, LCG. The trading products offered by this broker include forex, shares, indices, commodities, ETFs, bonds, vanilla options, and Spot Metals.

LCG is regulated by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission under license number 341/17, and the UK Financial Conduct Authority under license number FCA no. 182110. This broker has received many awards most of them revolving around their cutting edge trading technologies and high-level customer services.

LCG offers two types of accounts namely Classic and ECN. Also available is an Islamic account, commonly known as swap-free account given that it has no rollover interest on overnight positions.

The maximum leverage for the Classic account is 1:500 while that of the ECN is 1:200. With this broker, there is no minimum deposit requirement for the classic account. However, the trader must deposit enough funds to cover margin requirements.

ECN accounts require that the trader maintain an account balance of $10,000. The advantage of this type of account is that it comes with tighter spreads. This broker offers premium services to traders with at least £25,000 in deposit.

LCG is an ECN/STP trader meaning that its system matches orders directly with market liquidity providers therefore ensuring efficiency and execution speeds.

As mentioned earlier, this broker offers a wide range of products to include currencies, shares, indices, commodities, ETFs, bonds, vanilla options, and spot metals. With LCG, traders have access to over 82 currency pairs and over 4,700 CFDs. Major Cryptos such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and others are also available.

With this broker, traders can also access major shares, market indices, and commodities across the globe. The available ETFs are from the UK and US markets.

LCG is widely regulated by oversight bodies such as Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (License No. 341/17) and UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA no. 182110).

Other regulators include the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA no 1445894) and Securities Commission of Bahamas (SCB) under license number SIA –S194.

This broker is also listed in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) meaning that it has no choice but to operate in transparency as required by law.

LCG offers two popular trading platforms namely the MT4 and cTrader. Both platforms are considered as the best in the industry with each having its strengths and weaknesses. The cTrader provided by this broker is branded as LCG Trader.

Traders with either of the two live trading accounts can access MT4, but the LCG Trader is reserved for ECN accounts only. This is because it is faster than MT4 in trade executions and hence an excellent tool for attracting premium clientele.

Both the MT4 and LCG Trader come equipped with trading resources including charting tools and indicators. LCG Trader is considered as more advanced given that it has more drawing tools and a wide range of 64 indicators all available by default. The platforms are available in over 39 languages.

As mentioned previously all LCG platforms are mobile friendly. Traders can access their web-based trading platforms on their smartphones or download their native apps on Play Store or App Store.

The mobile versions are suitable for the classic as well as the ECN account. The trading apps come with all features that are available in the web-trader including the charting tools and indicators.

LCG offers variable spreads that differ with account types. Classic accounts have much wider spreads than the ECN accounts.

For instance, the average spread for EUR/USD on the Classic account is 1.6 pips while that of the ECN account is 0.2 pips. ECN spreads start from as low as 0 pips.

This broker charges commissions on accounts with tighter spreads with the amount differing with account type. While MT4 traders are charged $10 per lot, cTrader users pay a fee of $45 per 1,000,000 traded.

The only downside is that there are several complaints about this broker widening spreads during market events. However, we cannot verify the legitimacy of these claims.

The deposit and withdrawal methods accepted by this broker include credit cards, debit cards, bank transfers, and Moneybookers. There is no minimum deposit needed to start trading. However, traders should ensure that their deposits are enough to meet their trade margin requirements.

Regarding transaction fees, there is a 2% charge for payments made by credit card. Also, some withdrawal options may incur charges.

For instance, withdrawal through BACS is free and takes 3 to 5 days. However, faster payment requests attract a charge of £2.50. The same case applies to CHAPS with a £15 fee.

LCG customer support is available 24 hours a day, Monday through Friday. Clients can reach them through email, live chat, and phone.

While messages sent through email may take up to 24 hours to get a reply, live chats and phone calls take only a few minutes to get answered.

Also available on this broker's website is a comprehensive FAQ page and resources to guide clients on the most frequently raised issues. The resources include videos, guides, and articles. The customer service is available in English only.

This broker has a rich resource center equipped with materials for both beginner and experienced traders. The available resources include trading calendars, market reports, analysis videos, trading videos, glossaries, webinars, and trading guides.

LCG has partnered with Trading Central, a leading provider of technical analysis, to provide traders with event-driven research and practical trading strategies.

This broker also holds regular webinars to ensure that traders are up to date with the latest developments in the industry. The calendar for the upcoming webinars is available on their website.

Being one of the oldest online brokers, LCG has gained a reputation over the years across the globe. This broker is known for offering competitive spreads and also for their highly intuitive trading platforms.

The broker is highly regulated and also traded in London Stock Exchange which means that traders do not have to worry about transparency issues or losing their deposits in case of bankruptcy.

While there are several complaints about this broker widening its spreads during market events, there is no evidence to support the claims. LCG is a good broker for both beginners and experienced traders.

From our analysis, we can verify that this is a legitimate broker and worth a try. Beginner traders should start with their fully equipped demo account to familiarize with trading first before jumping into live accounts.